Airplane pick-up device



- Dec. 27, 1932. H. G. BUSHMEYER ET AL AIRPLANE PICK-UP DEVICE Filed Feb. 25. 1929 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 xi W Kar Dec. 27, 1932. BUSHMEYER ET AL 1,892,381

AIRPLANE PICK-UP DEVICE Filed Feb. 25. 1929 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 grwmtoa jfifizolskmeger ATM amra;-

Dec. 27, 1932- H. G. BUSHMEYER ET AL AIRPLANE PICK-UP DEVICE Filed Feb. 2a, 1929 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 1932- H. G. BUSHMEYER ET AL 1,892,381

AIRPLANE PICK-UP DEVICE Filed Feb. 23, 1929 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Patented Dec. 27, 1932' UNITED s ATEs PATENT OFFICE HENRY G. BUSHMEYER'AND ARCHIE W. CARD, OF MINEOLA, NEW YORK, ASSIGNORS T AEBO PICKUP SERVICE CORR, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK AIRPLANE PICK-UP DEVICE Application filed February 23, 1929. Serial No. 342,153.

The present invention .relates to a catapult pick-up mechanism designed particularly for use in connection with aircraft so that, for example, an airplane while flying near the ground may pick up additional supply of gasoline, mail, food and other paraphernalia.

e prime object of the invention resides in the provision of means for holding in an extended position a flexible loop which may be engaged by a hook or any other suitable device dangling from an airplane and when so engaged will set into operation a mecha nism for shooting into the air in the general direction of the flight of the airplane the paraphernalia to which said flexible loop is attached.

Another very important object of the invention resides in the provision of an apparatus of this nature wherein it is possible to regulate the speed at which the paraphernalia is cast into the air so as to conform as close as possible to the approximate speed of the airplane so as to eliminate sudden retarding jerks on the airplane which might prove disastrous. r

A further very important object of the invention resides in the provision in an appa- 'for which it is designed.

.ratus of this nature, of means-for holding the flexible loopin an extended position and to permit the same being picked up-by the airplane without danger of said loop entangling with any part of the apparatus.

Another very important object of the invention resides in the provision of an; ap paratus of this nature which may be conveniently and compactly mounted in a wheeled chassis such as an automobile chassis whereby the apparatus may be quickly and expeditiously put in the'most convenient position with respect to the flight of the airplane.

A still further very important object of the invention resides in the provision of an a paratus of this nature which is exceeding y simple in its construction, inexpensive to manufacture, strong and durable, thoroughly efiicient, effective and reliable in operation, and otherwise well adapted to' the purpose With the above and numerous other objects in view'as will appear as the description proshowing the pair of cams {and associated ele- Figure 1 is a side elevation of the appara-i' tus in a position ready for the airplane to" pick up a can of gasoline or other parapher nalia,

Figure 2 is a rear elevation thereof, v

Figure 3 is a vertical longitudinal section therethrough, I

Figure 4 is a detail section showin the {)elescopic mounting of one of the rec able ars,

Figure 5 is an enlarged detail section taken substantially on the line 55 of Figure 2,

Figure 6 1s an enlarged detail tr/ansverse vertical section taken substantially on the line 6-6 of Figure 3,

Figure 7 is an enlarged detail view of the gearing associated with the shock cord tensioning mechanism and illustrating indicia whe'eby the tension may be regulated as des1re Figure 8 is a view from the opposite sides to that shown in Figure 7 Figure 9 is a fragmentary top plan view ments utilized in releasing the carriage,

Figure 10 is an enlarged detail section illustrating the curtain,

Figure 11 is a detail section through the buffer and shock absorber, and

Figure 12 is an end elevation of the carnage. Y

Referring to the drawings in detail it will be seen that the numeral 5 denotes generally a wheeled frame of any preferred construction being shown as an automobile frame.

A pair of inverted U-shaped brackets 6 rise from the wheeled frame 5 for-supportin our improved apparatus. A pair of space coextensive parallel horizontal angle bars 7 are attached to the brackets 6 in any suitable manner and support thereabove a air of spaced coextensive parallel angle ars 8 which are inclined upwardly and rearwardly in respect to the wheel frame 5.

These angle irons 8 are in the nature of er end thereof tending to maintain a rod 37 sorbers 17 are supported under the upper projection 33 being on one cam and the retracks or rails for a carriage 9 which is mounted on a frame 10 having an upper set of wheels 11 to ride above the rails 8 and a lower set of wheels 12 to ride under the rails 8. v I These rails 8 are supported in respect t the bars 7 by suitab e members 14, 15 and 16.

One or more spring buffers and shock abends of the rails 8 and may be of any preferred construction for stopping and absorbing the shock of stopping the carriage 9 as will be more fully appreciated as the description proceeds.

A spring roller 18 has a' curtain 19 normally wound thereon and this curtain has an end attached to the carriage 9 so that when the carriage 9 is in its lowermost position as shown In Figure 3 said curta1n extends over i the space between the rails 8 to prevent objects from dropping down therebetween which might in any way interfere with the eflicient operation of the apparatus.

A tube 20 is fastened under the forward intermediate portions of the bar 7 by suitable means 21 and slidably receives bars 22 with upstanding end extensions 23 in which are journaled rocker arms 24 with outer lateral ends 25 over which are telescoped sockets 26 of standards 27.

A plate 28 is slidable on the angle bars 7 and at its rear end has an upstandingshoulder 29. A pair of cams 30 have trunnions 31' rockable in the upstanding flanged portions of the bars 7 and universal joint connections 32 with rocker arms 24.

These cams are interconnected for independent rocking movement by means of a projection 33 extending intoa recess 34, the

be brought outlater in the description.

A rod 35 extends downwardly from the intermediate portion of each rocker arm 24 and has a counterbalance weight at the lowin engagement with a stop 38 projecting from the tube 20 so that the standards 27 incline slightly upwardly and forwardly inrespect to the wheeled frame 5.

A trigger 40 is pivotally mounted as at 41 between members 14 for engaging a catch 42 a formed on a bar 43A under the carriage 9 and 65; plate 28 A sheave or pulley 46 is journaled other/so that the shock 'jcord 70 as the slack' also engaging a pivoted catch 43 pivoted as at 44 between the lower ends of the member 14::

-A link 45 connects the catch 43 with/the link 45 and plate 28 forwardly.

between members 47 rising from the bars7. Bearings 48 remote from members 47 have journaled therein a shaft 49 on which is fixed a drum 50. Associated with this drum is a shock cord 51 in the nature of an elastic cable.

This shock cord 51 is trained over the pulley 46 and attached to a lug 52 depending frq mthe bar 43A under the carriage 9 so that when the shock cord is under tension said carriage 9 is urged to move up the inclined rails 8.

A relatively large gear 53 is on one end of the shaft 49 and meshes with a relatively small gear 54 on a shaft 55 journaled in the bearings 48 and a crank 56 or the like is provided for rotating this shaft'55.

At the other end of the shaft 55 there is fixed a ratchet wheel 57 with which is associateda spring pressed pawl 58 mounted on the adjacent bearing 48. A brake drum 59 is mounted on the shaft 49 and a brake band 60 is associated therewith and operable by a lever61 which is held in an inactive position by a suitable link or the like 62. The purpose of the brake described in the above line 18 to stop a too sudden and violent backward movement after thecarriage' is released and contacts with the buffer or shock absorbers 17.

One end of a spring 63 is engaged with the rear end of the link 45 and the other end to bearing 48 by any suitable means to urge the The numeral denotes a flexible loop preferably constructed of shock cord or equivalent ma terial. This loop is held in an extended position by being engaged over the hooks 71 on the upper end of the standard 27 and then disposed to extend between said standards and be attached to paraphernalia 72 on the carriage 9. v

The carriage 9 is then moved downwardly or forwardly on the rails 8 until the catch 42 is engaged with the trigger 40 and the catch 43 also engaged with said trigger 40. Crank 56 is actuated to wind the shock cord on the drum 50 until the desired tension is'acquired, which is ascertained by using indicia 75 on the gear 53.

Thetension placed on the shock cord '51 will be governed by the estimated speed of the airplane. I have indicated an airplane by the numeral 77 with a hook or grapple member 78 of suitable structure dangling therefrom by means of a cable or shock cord 790g in any other suitable manner.

The airplane is manouvered so that the element 7 8 travels between the standards 27 under the up ermost portion of the ,shock cord or loop 0 and of course said 100 70 is caught) in the member 7 8 and pulled a ong with-the-airplane causing the rocking of the standards 27 rearwardly anddownwardly at which "time they-move inwardly toward each is taken up therein readily frees itself from the, hooks 71. Now as the standards 27 are rocked forwardly the rocker arms 24 rockthe cams 30 to cause the sliding of the plate and upwardlv in a general direction of the airplane so that said carriage is moving at approximately the same speed as the airplane when the slack in the loop 70 is fully taken up and thereby avoiding any suddenjerk which would suddenly retard the speed of the airplane.

As the carriage reaches the end of its travelthe shock of stopping the same is absorbed-b the shock absorber or buffer structure shown by way of example in Figure 11.

\Vhen the apparatus is not in use, the'ba y be slid inwardly of the tubes to? bring e upstanding end extension 23 within the confines of the wheels of the Wheel frame 5. Of course at this time the universal connections 32 are unfastened. The standards 27 may be easily lifted ofi" the ends of the rockers 24 and thus the apparatus may be moved from place to place without difficulty.

In addition to the practical advantages hereinbefore set forth, our novel apparatus is obviouslysimple, strong and durable.

We have entered into a detail description of the construction and relative arrangement of parts embraced in the preferred and present embodiment of our invention in order to impart a full, clear and exact understanding of said embodiment.

This embodiment has been selected because in actual practice it attains the features of advantage enumerated as desirable in the statement of the invention and the above description. We do not desire it however, to be understood as confining ourselves to the specific construction and relative arrangement of parts inasmuch as in the future prac tice of the invention various changes and modifications may be made such as fall within the scope of our invention and appended claims.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new is:

1. In an apparatus of the class described, a

trackway, a carriage movable on the trackway, means under tension for urging movement of the carriage in one direction, releasable means for holding the carriage against said movement, a mechanism for holding a flexible member attached to paraphernalia in the carriage in an extended position, and means operatively connecting said mechanism with said holding means for said carriage.

2. In an apparatus of the class described, a trac (way, a carriage movable on the trackway, means under tension for urging move a tr'ackway,

port on which said apparatus ment of the carriage in one direction, releasable means for holding the carriage against said movement, a mechanism for holding a flexible member attached to paraphernalia in the carriage in an extended position, means operati ely connecting said mechanism with said holding means for said carriage, and means associated with the means for urging the carriage into motion whereby the speed of said motion may be varied.

3. In an apparatus of the class described,

a trackway, a carriage slidable on the trackway, ashoek cord engaged with the carriage, means fortensioning the shock cord to urge the carriage in one direction, releasable anchormg means associated with the carriage, pair of standards, means for rockably mounting the standards, and means operatively connecting the rockable mounting means with the holding means to actuate the latter when said standards are rocked.

4. In an apparatus of the class described, a carriage slidable on the track- Way, a shock cord engaged with the carriage,

means for tensioning the shock cord to urge the carriage in one direction, releasable anchoring means associated with the carriage, a pair of standards, means for rockably mounting the standards, means opeiatively connecting the rockable mounting mea us with the holding means to actuate the latter when said standards are rocked, and a mobile supis mounted. HENRY G. BUSHMEYER. ARCHIEW. CARD. 

